"NAMUR---A beautiful city in the Ardens " a Namur Travel Page by titabell

Namur in French, Namen in Dutch.

The bad news is---we can't have our yearly autumn holiday in Oslo nor in Luxembourg. Son has a very hectic schedule with his school thesis and going on holiday without him is just not the same.

The good news is--- we can still enjoy our autumn holiday in our own backyard! We love to spend autumn in the mountains where we can enjoy watching the changing of the leaves from green to yellow, red and brown. We love throwing the fallen leaves to each other---bugs included! and Namur seems to have all the qualifications we're looking for for our autumn madness.

Namur is just a little over than two hours from home with the train. It is located in the hilly Ardens and is passed thru a beautiful river called the Meuse. It has a landscape of grandeur and yet a shopping street full of modern shops and trendy restaurants and tearooms---my kind of town!

It has been about fifteen years ago since we last went to Namur and oh boy! it changed a lot. Although it isn't so far from home, Namur has not really caught my interest in the years that passed. I remember going there with a toddler in my arms, all stressed up as a new mom that i was not able to see much of the city. Well, my toddler is now bigger and better than me. This time, he took me in his arms and dragged me up and down the streets of this wonderful city.
We left our hometown of Brugge at 6:58 am and arrived at Bruzzel Zuid at about 8 am and took the connection train to Dinant right away and got off at the Namur train station. Arriving at the station, we were pleasantly surprised by its clean and modern infrastracture inside and its old and elegant building outside. It's a combination of old and new. Inside are tearooms and cafés, all platforms are serviced by lifts and the toilet is clean and orderly as it is regularly maintained by a sweet and friendly toilet lady.
Just outside the station, you'll be greeted by restaurants and appetizing shops of clothes, shoes and nic nacs. We were very lucky to have come on a Saturday where they hold their Saturday market on the main shopping street of the city.

The first stop we made upon arrival was the TOURIST INFO CENTER. It is located just a short walk from the train station. There, we were greeted by the personnel with warm and happy smiles. There were many books, booklets and pamphlets free of charge and you can get them by yourselves as they are displayed in open shelves.
However, i seemed to be missing the concise book of the famous sights and attractions. Seeing that they didn't have them on the book shelves, i opted to buy a guide book that were displayed at the counter. It costed only €3, a small price to pay for such a helpful book. However, the tourist info staff gave me another option. She gave me a book and a large map and showed me the way to get to the places where i wanted to go. She took her time explaining and in the end, she gave me both the book and the map for free. She also took away the €3-book that i wanted to buy in the first place. She was just soooo nice. I wish all Tourist info staff all over the world are like this young woman. So kind and friendly! Now, we're definitely coming back to Namur!